Kunming - Bangkok: Flying bicycles - Touring in Thailand, Cambodia and China 2007/8 - CycleBlaze

February 20, 2008

Kunming - Bangkok: Flying bicycles

We bundle up for our last ride in China, this time to the airport. We follow the airport signs on one of the main boulevards leading southeast out of town and after five kilometers we are standing in front of the departures building. It couldn't have been easier. When we wheel our bikes (with pedals turned in and handlebars lined up with the frame, tires nearly flat), to the Thai Airways check-in, the personnel hesitates only a few seconds before nodding that they will take our bikes. Actually they ask if we have boxes and I say no, a white lie. We do have packing material. But it seems the strategy worked since they don't refuse to take the bikes. Again no charge for overweight.

Before departure I can observe the cargo and luggage being loaded onto our plane from the waiting hall. And I can see with with my very own eyes how our bikes are carried by hand onto the plane. This is very reassuring. I doubt if they would have been handled so carefully if they had been boxed.

We have already reorganized our bags. Yesterday we bought two cheap (8 Euros) backpacks. We have had enough frustration and intend to leave our panniers and bikes at the Bangkok airport luggage storage and go on with light backpacks for the remainder of our time in Thailand.

Last view of China: View of Kunming and much new housing from the airplane
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Yunnan translates as south of the clouds
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Once in Bangkok we discover that storage fees are quite high here. Regardless of the size of the bag or if it's a bicycle, you pay 100 Baht, 2 Euros, per piece a day. We have two bikes and four panniers. Tomorrow we will have to return and get our panniers and pack them in one big bag. Storage for a bag at any guest house will be much cheaper (about 30 Baht). We will leave the bicycles at the airport as it isn't cheap to transport them into town, either, and it's a hassle.

A word on Thai Airways. Not only are our bikes well cared for, we have plenty of leg room and although it is only a two-hour flight we are served a good meal, with wine if desired. By comparison, our 12-hour flight from Munich to Bangkok with Air Berlin was cramped and the meals were meager. On a two-hour flight you probably wouldn't even get a glass of water with Air Berlin. To be fair I must mention that they took our bikes free of charge.

A few comments based on our limited experience with bicycle transport in China: It has been easier in China to take our bikes on busses than anywhere else we have travelled and checking in bicycles as-is for a flight has always been possible. If I were to plan another cycling tour here, I would always try to fly into a smaller city, for example Kunming, Dali or Jinghong, where you can easily cycle between town and airport.

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